Ganga Ram
A commemorative postage stamp on Rai Bahadur Sir Ganga Ram Agrawal, Father of Modern Lahore :
Issued by India
Issued on Sep 4, 1977
Issued for : The Indian Posts and Telegraphs Department feels privileged to bring out a commemorative postage stamp in honour of this great son of India.
Description of Design : The design of the stamp is horizontal and depicts a portrait of the personality with a view of Ganga Ram Hospital building in New Delhi.
Type : Stamp, Postal Used
Colour : Maroon
Denomination : 25 Paise
Overall size : 4.06 X 2.28 cms.
Printing size : 3.75 X 1.98 cms.
Perforation : 14 x 14½
Watermark : Printed on unwatermarked adhesive stamp paper
Number printed : 30,00,000
Number per issue sheet : 50
Printing process : Photogravure
Designed and printed at : India Security Press
Name : Ganga Ram Agrawal
Born on Apr 13, 1851 at Mangtanwala, Nankana Sahib, Punjab province, British India [now in Pakistan]
Died on Jul 10, 1927 at London, England
About :
- Ganga Ram was born on April 13, 1851 at Mangtanwala now in Pakistan. After a brilliant academic career Ganga Ram entered service as an Assistant Engineer in the Public Works Department, Punjab.
- The planning and processes introduced by him for the construction of municipal services, structure and institutions were the first of its kind in India and became a model for generations to come.
- The most significant contribution of Ganga Ram was in the field of agriculture. To him, agriculture was the foundation of the development of all planning and prosperity in India. His efforts, inspiration and engineering skill largely contributed to make dry tracts of Punjab smile and become green which has made that state the granary of India with the highest per capita income.
- Ganga Ram was a great social reformer much ahead of his times. He was against dowry and child marriage and advocated widow re-marriage. He established institutions for vocational education and education of the adults. Almost his entire earnings were put in a charitable trust named after him and were utilised to achieve a welfare society.
- To perpetuate his memory the Ganga Ram Trust, despite having been deprived of almost its entire reserve of funds and property due to partition of the country, is running an up-to-date hospital in New Delhi.
- Ganga Ram passed away on July 10, 1927 in England while functioning as an active member of the Royal Commission on Agriculture.
